BEFORE LIGHT | PAUL LAHOTE - 2. *ON HOLD*

𝟎𝟕

𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫

Patrol was harder now than ever before. There was an immense pressure to be on the look out for anything out of the ordinary and there was an imperishable tension that had settled between us all. We were all on edge looking for any signs of the coven that were set to threaten us soon. We all had questions, my friends and I more so, but no one knew how to answer what we wanted to know because they were questions that they didn't know how to answer.

Everyone was doing their bit. Carlisle and my mom were working to try and find any deaths that seemed out of the ordinary in the states surrounding Washington. They were looking for deaths related to animal attacks and deaths where the victim had been drained of blood as well as an increase in deaths in said areas. They were trying to plot the path the coven were taking by monitoring the recent animal related deaths and homicide cases but they'd had no luck so far. It was either that they hadn't left wherever they were residing yet — meaning we had time on our hands — or they were hiding the bodies of the people they were feeding from.

It made it harder for us to try and anticipate when they would be arriving to Forks. It gave us less time to prepare ourselves, to set things into place and work arrangements out. It made it harder for my grandpa to sort a holiday out so that when the coven came he wasn't in Forks. It made it difficult for us to know when to enlist the help of the Denali coven. My mom didn't know when to ask my grandma Renee if she could watch Arelle and Kyra.

While we were flapping around to try and prepare for this, Emmett and Jasper were brushing up on their combat skills although it didn't take them much convincing to do so. The pair loved a bit of a friendly battle — trying to prove who was stronger. They had prompted everyone to do some more training. Jasper had years of experience in fighting vampires and to be honest my mom had a bit of experience around the area too — nowhere near as much as Jasper did though.

The pack and I had re-strategised our patrol and the coven had offered to help us given we had to cover the area at all times now. It was going to be exhausting but it was something we had to do in order to get the upper hand. We couldn't let them sneak up on us — it wasn't an option and so this was necessary.

It didn't make it easier though when people didn't turn up for their patrol shifts. In fact it only pissed me — and everyone else — off. I wouldn't of put it past Brandon to turn up late for his shift, he did it often, but he normally arrived ten or so minutes after he was due to start. He was brimming on being over a half hour late now and he wasn't answering his phone. His mind wasn't open to accept the pack link either and I'd about had enough. I wasn't in a good mood to start with and this had finished me off.

Emmett and Jasper seemed pretty amused when I told him, Brodie, Alex and Seth we were going over to his house. I was fed up of waiting for him to show his face now and when I began the walk to his house the rest of the group followed me eagerly. It was a night shift so I could imagine Quil and Talia would be in as well as the twins so why they hadn't reminded him of his shift I wasn't sure. I wouldn't put the blame on to any of them though, at the end of the day it was Brandon's responsibility to know when his shift was and to turn up for it.

I knocked on the door to the Ateara house twice before walking in, Alex following me. Quil and Talia didn't mind us walking into their house, they walked into ours all the time. It was something we all did to each other actually and if the door was ever locked we knocked. Their door was open though and as I stepped into the two-storey home I saw the twins sat on the sofa staring at the television in the living room.

It was Levi who looked away from the television screen first, albeit incredibly delayed after Alex and I walked in and he grinned at the both of us, "Hey! Carter, Alex!"